


What kind of sadness you have

by diamond_sunstorm



Category: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, OC Romance Week, Thalmor Embassy, another one of elenwen's parties
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-24
Updated: 2019-06-24
Packaged: 2020-05-18 19:35:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19341208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/diamond_sunstorm/pseuds/diamond_sunstorm
Summary: Second entry for the OC Romance Week byArtemisMoonsongParties are supposed to be fun. Less fun when you get bothered by a drunk dude that doesn't want to leave you alone. Then it's a good thing to have someone pretend to be your date.





	What kind of sadness you have

**Author's Note:**

> Check out the edited and updated version [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20102323/chapters/49403465)

The carriage abruptly stopped in front of the embassy, waking Mirafire from her dreams. During the long trip she had leant her head against the window and at some point must have fallen asleep. Now she quickly rubbed her eyes as they had arrived and tucked a few strands of hair that had fallen to the front behind her ears. She exited the carriage after Ondolemar and Elanire, another Thalmor soldier from Markarth. 

Mirafire had only been to the embassy once when she arrived at Solitude from the Summerset Isles, but she immediately was sent to Markarth after a day, so she didn’t have the opportunity to completely experience it yet. Tonight Emissary Elenwen was hosting one of her parties for important Thalmor contacts and Ondolemar, as the head of the Thalmor Justiciars in Skyrim, was of course among the invited guests, too. And he had chosen her and Elanire to accompany him.

She was wearing a dark brown dress for tonight, that went down to her knees and covered her arms up to her elbows, with a white belt around her waist to keep her skirt in place. Elanire had lent it to her for the night as she didn't own one herself, and to her luck it perfectly fit. Ondolemar on the other hand was wearing a formal variant of his usual justiciar robes and Mirafire had to admit that he looked indeed very good in it. 

Elanire and Mirafire followed him up the stairs leading to the entry of the embassy, where the guards wished them a pleasant evening before letting them pass. Once inside Ondolemar was already greeted by Emissary Elenwen and the two left to chat somewhere else. Elanire had likewise run off to find her friends, so Mirafire stood a bit lost in the entrance before a familiar voice called out her name.

"Mirafire, there you are," Sorewynn, her older brother who was stationed in the embassy as a medic, came over to her and pulled her into a firm hug. "It is good to see you tonight. Did you arrive safely?"

Mirafire nodded as her brother pushed her towards the other guests, "I did. So, what do you normally do at these parties?" she asked.

"Drink, and talk," Sorewynn took two glasses of wine from a bosmeri waitress swiftly hushing around the guests with a tray in her hand, "Here, take this. Just find someone to talk to. I have to go for a while, but if I find the time I will come back to you later."

He pressed the glass into her hand and already ran off through the crowd. Mirafire decided she would wait a bit if an opportunity for a conversation would arise, so she found herself a bench in a quiet corner of the hall. She sat down and took the first sip of her wine. It was sweeter than the wine she usually drank back in Markarth, but she had already expected this, as Emissary Elenwen would definitely not have her guests drink any low quality wine. The embassy had expectations to live up to, after all.

Enjoying her drink she spied around the hall trying to find anyone she knew, but she only saw either Thalmor higher ups or Skyrim nobility, neither of which she had any contact to, besides Ondolemar. 

"Hey you, sweetie," an unfamiliar voice suddenly called from behind her. An altmeri Thalmor soldier was leaning over the backrest, a whole bottle of wine in his hand, and judging by the emptiness of said bottle, he must've enjoyed maybe a bit too much alcohol for the night already. 

"Uhm, hi?" Mirafire answered as the guy sat down right next to her, stretching his arms both sides over the backrest.

He emptied the last sip of wine in his bottle before turning towards her again. "So, what's a pretty girl like you doing here all alone? Shouldn't you find the company of a nice guy to spend your evening?"

Mirafire stared at him for a second, trying to judge how she should behave around him, "I don't think I need to–" she began but the guy placed his arm around her and pulled her closer, "Excuse me, but–"

"Aww don't be shy, darlin'," he interrupted her, smirking, and slid his hand down her back around her waist, "I'm a nice guy, nothing to fear. I have a room upstairs we could go to later. These parties are pretty boring anyways. I could need the company of a sweet lady like you. I’m sure I can elicit some pleasant sounds out of that pretty mouth of yours." 

"Please, I don't want to," she tried to discreetly shift away, "I need to find my–" she stopped in her sentence. Should she lie and say that she had a date?

Before she could come to a conclusion he had already grabbed her face, turning her in his direction. "Let's be real, you just don't want to admit that you want it. You just need a bit of convincing, am I right?"

Mirafire's face reddened, her hand clenching the glass she was still carrying. She tried to look around for a way to escape the situation without drawing too much attention to her, but she couldn't find one. Either she had to quietly endure his harassment, or shove him off, at the risk of him becoming violent. Judging by the way he clearly ignored her before, that was a likely outcome. But she had no choice now, so she put her glass on the table next to the bench, preparing to stand up for herself.

She collected all her courage to speak, however her voice was still shaking, "No. I don't want anything to do with you right now," she said to him and stood up, ripping herself from his strong grip.

As she had expected, he did not react well to that. "You're really testing my patience," he hissed, trapping her against the wall. 

Mirafire squeezed past him, but he held her back by the fabric of her dress, "You're not going anywhere, honey."

"Get off me!" she shouted, slapping his arm away. Her rapid motion caused him to let go of his bottle, which then shattered against the ground. The guy that seemed so confident in what he was doing now stared at her in disbelief. Mirafire took the chance to run, fleeing into the crowd.

She felt her heart beating fast inside her chest as she pushed through the other guests, trying to get away from her persecutor. Despite him being heavily drunk, he managed to track her through the crowd, that now started to murmur about the two so rudely shoving their way through them.

Mirafire turned around a corner, nearly running into someone. This short interruption left enough time for the guy to catch up with her, "Why are you running away? I'm just trying to be friendly," he grabbed her hand, holding her back.

Just as Mirafire was about to answer, the man she nearly ran into turned around. Out of all people she could have run into, it was Ondolemar. He took a sharp look at the man, "I would assume she does not want your company, when she is already running away from you," he said, putting a hand on her shoulder, "Besides, she is here as my company, so you have three seconds to explain yourself what you were trying to do with her."

The guy immediately let go of her hand, stuttering an apology. Ondolemar protectively kept his arm around her shoulders. 

"I- I just wanted to get to know her, really, Sir, I did not meant to harm her or take her away from you, I–" 

Ondolemar didn't seem satisfied at all by his attempted explanation, "I will have you talk to Emissary Elenwen tomorrow. And I do not want to see you bothering any other women this evening. Have I been clear with my orders?"

"Y-yes Sir, of course," the guy bowed in apology and made a hasty retreat.

Mirafire slowly looked up from the ground at Ondolemar, "Thank you," she whispered, nervously rubbing her neck.

Ondolemar looked back at her, his arm still resting around her shoulders. She sighed, before explaining to him what happened earlier, "He tried to flirt with me, and didn't stop when I told him I didn't want to," she made a short pause, "And he made very inappropriate comments… But you really didn't have to pretend that I was your company."

"I don't mind that I had to. In fact, would you like to continue to be in my company for the evening? This party is becoming dreadfully boring, and I wouldn't mind yours," he asked, now talking with less authority than before. 

Mirafire thought about his offer for a moment, then smiled, "Yes, I would like to," she said, her voice finding back to her usual confidence.

"Then, I would propose we go in the gardens for a while?" Mirafire nodded, and Ondolemar led her outside, his arm still resting around her shoulders.


End file.
